Better Muffins: "Healthy"

Yesterday's batch came out much better. Kate was guinea pig, and said something like "Well, they taste healthy-- there's not much sugar...." But I thought they were all right: they rose fairly well, came out of the pan easily, and if they weren't very sweet, well, there's always jam. The texture was still a problem-- much more chewy than crumbly-- and the cinnamon needs another boost. I wonder if our cinnamon might be too old. To fix the texture problem next time I'm going to try a little less flour, and make the sourdough mixture less cohesive by thinning it out with beaten eggwhites. They were also small, so I'm boosting everything just a touch.

I think the main problem with the first batch was less the proportions than mixing; I was rushing and didn't follow my own directions. With the second batch I gave myself plenty of time to do all of the labor-intensifying separate mixes that I love so much, the ones that produce piles of extra mixing bowls to wash... yippee! Here are the instructions for next time:

Mix together and let sit overnight:

1 1/4 cup sourdough starter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
4 Tablespoons maple syrup

In the morning, preheat oven to 400, and butter a muffin tin. Cream together:

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar

Thoroughly beat two egg yolks into the butter mixture. Beat the whites separately, until they're nice and fluffy, and fold them into the bubbly sourdough mixture.

Sift together:

2 cups white flour
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt

Mix the flour and the sourdough by turns into the butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour, and adding milk or flour as necessary to produce a sticky, cohesive batter. Scrape into the muffin tin and bake 20-25 minutes, until brown on top.

Better Sandwich Loaves

This time I made and kneaded the dough just before bed, let it rise overnight for 10 hours, shaped the loaves in the morning and let them rise in the warm oven for 5 hours before baking. Very good texture and flavor, symmetrical rise, generally better. Another change that might have helped the symmetry is that I put the loaves in end-to-end, parallel to the oven door, instead of side-by-side with the ends facing the door; I also used an "envelope" fold to shape them instead of rolling.

First Sourdough Muffins: Bad

Luckily for her, Kate left for work before the sourdough muffins came out of the oven. They were greasy, flat, chewy on the outside, damp on the inside, and salty. Couldn't taste the cinnamon and barely tasted the sugar. Also, they stuck to the pan somehow, despite all that butter.

I'm not sure how to correct all those problems in the next batch. So first I'll decrease everything by half, just to make it less of a gamble. I'll add more flour at the end (this time I barely added any) and try to make it easier to mix the batter smoothly and quickly by thinning out the butter mixture and skipping the eggwhite-beating step. So:

Mix together and let sit overnight:

1/2 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons maple syrup

In the morning, preheat oven to 400, and butter half of a muffin tin. Cream together:

5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar

Thoroughly beat in one whole egg. Sift together:

1 cup white flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Gradually fold the sourdough and the flour by turns into the butter-and-egg mixture, adding milk or flour as necessary to produce a sticky, cohesive batter. Scrape into the muffin tin and bake 20-25 minutes, then let cool on a wire rack for another 5 minutes before popping them out.

We'll see.

Sourdough Muffins? First Try

1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup milk
1 cup whole-wheat flour
3 Tablespoons maple syrup

Mix together in a bowl and leave overnight.

In the morning, preheat the oven to 400, butter a 12-muffin baking tin, and cream together

3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

and beat in

2 egg yolks.

Beat the whites separately till nearly stiff, then fold into the butter mixture along with the sourdough starter and up to

2 cups sifted flour.

Scoop into the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 more minutes and then remove the muffins to cool the rest of the way on a wire rack.


Once I've tried this I'll post again with corrections.